Messages - nous

The main point I wanted to highlight; "a lot of people are stupid, they need trappings so they can function." A "real" religion must be a crowd pleaser to some extent. It has to be. At the very least, the crowd must be functional and satisfied. A little off-topic? Something to think about?

Point well taken, and thank you for the quote. Yes, there is no better method to educate a people and to let them participate, as much as possible, in virtue, than to let them practice a religion. Metal music and culture is a reaction against a degenerate civilization and at the same time a vision of a better future; a vision that is in many aspects traditional and visionary, but far too often blind in its rebellion; by repulsing it becomes repulsive. There are many intelligent listeners of metal music who are capable of understanding this eventually, and many of them visit this forum.

"What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea." --Gandhi

Meister Eckhart would turn in his grave if he knew that the same person who mentions him favorably ridicules the Son of God. And he would say: "the more they blaspheme, the more they praise Him."

Learn humility. Even if you are not a Christian: who do you think you are that you could judge a Prophet? Moses, Jesus, Muhammad etc. are all above suspicion for any man who has any reverence for God; they are His messengers and ipso facto outshine us all in perfection.

All true Philosophers and all religious Prophets have proclaimed and defended the idea of the the immortality of the soul, while differing in subtleties. But whether that life then will be pleasant or unpleasant, they proclaim, depends on how we live our life on this earth:

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."Matthew 7:21

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It's a retarded mythos stolen from more intelligent people.

I think you don't believe it because you lack confidence in God, i.e. that He could do it. However, every religion requires such belief. It is not so difficult if one starts with the premise that God is omnipotent; consequently every wonder is normal--although still awe-inspiring--when one considers who is responsible for it.

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I find what is exhilarating is the decision to do what is right no matter what comes, whether eternal non-existence or eternal light.

This is a false dilemma. Whatever you do that is right, God will not punish you for it in the Hereafter. But the standard is His, and the judgement is His also. Still, He says: My Mercy precedes my Wrath.

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Evil and good together are necessary. Evil is horrible and stupid, in one view (see the other thread), but it is also what enables variability.

You think that Reality were incompatible with Christianity, which again is a false dilemma persisting in your mind. Yes, this world necessarily contains evil; evil is, so to speak, incorporated in it. It is laughable, though, to accuse Christianity of ignoring evil. You might disagree with what is identified as evil, but that is something else entirely. For a Christian, every deed that leads to the death of the soul is fleshly and evil, even if it looks neat from the outside. And every deed that lets it live in God is holy and good, even if it looks ludicrous from the outside. But to understand what exactly leads to the death of the soul, one needs to hear the Word of God and practice It; the outsider who does not practice a religion is like one who is blindfolded, and only with some effort will he be able to remove his blindfold and finally see, cf. Plato's Cave allegory.

To the defenders of liberalism: would you agree that liberalism is essentially: to grant freedom to the citizen as long as this is not bad for other citizens?If you do not agree with this definition, maybe you could suggest a better one, because I really want to know what liberals' values actually are.

I don't really understand this passage, though. Maybe you could clarify?

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Whereas before Judaism was a rabbinical the rejection of Christian doctrine, formed after Christ, Judaism — including the Talmud and its brazen hostility towards gentiles — was now incorporated into the ordinary faith of Europeans. Thus, as long as Europe was Christian, they were able to maintain a semblance of a traditional society.

I still have a difficult time listening to Mozart sonatas (which are, admittedly, extremely difficult to get right) after hearing her cycle two years ago. This recording has helped speed my recovery (warning: pianoforte).

The lesson here is that the stupid can take anything promising and dumb it dry of any potential it could have had.

Yes. Stupidity is always stupid. On the other hand, the value of opinions differs greatly.

Honestly, the two guys above, while maybe simple, could be decent fellows. At least they underwent some organization and will listen to an authority.

Here is an intelligent comment on the "design argument" for a change:

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The teleological proof of God is supported, for example, by the extraordinary combination of conditions that make life on earth possible; another demonstration results from the biological homogeneity of the organic world and the equilibrium between species, an equilibrium derived from this homogeneity precisely. And this leads us to the Hindu myth of the primordial sacrifice of Purusha: all living beings issue from the sacrificed members of the celestial and “prematerial” body, and from this arises both the differences between creatures and the equilibrium of creation. Purusha contains all possibilities: luminous and dark, fiery and cold, violent and peaceful; from these comes the opposition between certain species in the world, an opposition—between carnivores and ruminants, for example—corresponding nonetheless to a biological equilibrium, which cannot be explained apart from the existence of an underlying unity. Man can upset this balance—at least abnormally—and he does this by means of his machines and serums, in short by all those inroads into nature that come about through the ac­quisitions and misdeeds of modern civilization; this does not prove that the teleological proofs lack validity but on the contrary that man has something of the divine about him, and this something—which in the preceding example is manifested in an evil form—shows that man is in reality an “exceptional” being, that his position is central be­cause he is situated beneath the divine axis, and that his final end can therefore be found only beyond the material world. Man is made for what he is able to conceive; the very ideas of absoluteness and transcendence prove both his spiritual nature and the supra-terrestrial character of his destiny.

i think its sad...in away..to look how stupid people can get..and of course the stupidest of all are religious people, that just proves that the only way the world is to rid from the big three religious, is by hasting that nuclear war and purging the earth and giving them thier armagadon..

"What marks the death of 'god' is the twilight for a dark age His creation being plagued with the venomous blood of ours The sky suffocates eclipsed by a black mist of hatred Where goodness cannot reach the fire burns in dark flames " Dissection. storms of the lights bane, Retribution - Storm of the Light's Bane

Yeah yeah sure...Ever noticed that there live idiotic atheists on this world, too? Idiocy is not a privilege of the religions.Sometimes it helps to see the big picture. Which is that you simply don't believe in God. Fine by me; but please, don't throw around lame excuses if there have been much better arguments by more intelligent human beings.

Never apologize, never acknowledge guilt, the distributed public replacement for shame, which is a private effect evolved to force us to get it right next time or experience more psychological pain.

Listen to rather than annouce shame in order to better stay attentive and accountable in the future. This makes better people. Apologies make people circumvent self-improvement by applying a socially acceptable diversion in lieu of suffering, introspection and lastly, effort toward betterment.

An apology normally comes after one has learned something; it is a public judgement on a past error.The decision to improve oneself is prior to the decision to apologize. It is totally unrealistic to play self-improvement off against apologizing.So, I really don't see what's so problematic about this. You only sound like you cannot bring yourself to admit an error. Or maybe you want to manipulate a woman with it? In which case it would be quite evil.

Exceptional reply.I'd like to add to this sentence..."The point is, there's plenty of darkness in classical music and you may not even know that you've heard it in some of your favourite pieces."...that there is in classical such an abundance of melodies, which again can be placed in various categories, that listeners will to a certain degree and based on their own life experiences, find something in certain melodies that others don't, altough it is there to be found.For example, the second movement of Brahms's second symphony is at the same time sad, and gentle, and intimate, and playful, while still beautiful. On which aspect will you concentrate when you listen to it?